Community Empowerment Facility Profile

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BACKGROUND

In providing support to the Transborder Wildlife Association (TWA) to improve the management and use of local forest resources, International Land Coalition seeks to support the long-term sustainability of this rapidly degrading resource whilst simultaneously improving the incomes of households whose livelihoods depend on the forests.

Following a half century as a command economy, when the forest and pasture lands, previously privately owned, were taken by the state, the population took no interest in sustainable use and took what they needed with no concern for the loss in productivity. With the end of the centrally-planned model, there is a need to educate and provide incentives for land users to redefine their relationship to the land and its sustainable management.

Despite the fact that the Albanian government set a target of 40% of  forests to be transferred to private households within each Commune by 2004, actual transfers have been very slow, making the achievement of the target doubtful. While the required agreements between the Forest Service and the Communes have been completed, the signing of agreements between the Communes and the local users, and the registration with the Real Estate Registry Office, is still outstanding. The result is that forest users are unwilling to take responsibility until given the authority to manage the forest and therefore remain reluctant to invest in more sustainable practices until they know that they will receive the benefits.

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GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

The project will enhance the ability of households in Lozhan Commune to use forest and pasture resources to gain technical knowledge and to understand the processes for sustainable forest management. The specific objectives are to increase awareness on how to advance the community interests by: (a) using the processes for transferring state forests/pasture lands to the local Communes; (b) supporting communities to obtain land titles; and, (c) support the Communes in adopting sustainable natural resources activities. The goal of TWA is to facilitate the registration and legal certification of access and use of forest land. The process will ensure the widest possible participation of all forest users in the Communal decision-making process, including the representation of women in local committees and governance. The result will be a communal management system in which the beneficiaries are user-managers.

Empowerment through Education and Policy Influence

In 2000, TWA - with its focus on mountainous and marginalized areas - successfully implemented a similar project to transfer a state forest area to a local village in another part of Lozhan commune. Based on this success, International Land Coalition approved a contribution of USD 46 000 to assist TWA to undertake the same kind of activity across a wider area, to include 16 villages in the same Commune. The potential to replicate and scale up proven activities in order reach a large group of beneficiaries is very important. It demonstrates to government the relevance of community-based methods of resource management and the importance of involving communities in the related public policy processes.

At the end of the 18-month period of implementation, it is expected that forest and pasture users in Lozhan Commune will be adequately organized and educated in the principles, policies and practices for land transfers, in order to continue managing resources in the difficult transition period between enactment of government legislation and the actual process of transfer. By the end of the project, the villagers will have succeeded in gaining their legal certification for the forest lands. Their involvement in these processes will provide the experience and confidence needed to influence the control and use of vital economic resources. This will occur within a state-wide process giving the Commune greater credibility with the State, as well as access to state services which may further improve their livelihood opportunities.

Project Activities

Initially, the project will seek to identify the forest boundaries to be transferred to the Communes. Village commissions will be set up to lead and involve the communities in the various aspects of project management. Apart from participation in preparing the forest management plans, the communities will be involved in dividing forested areas among the members, and in registering these lands. The local NGO, TWA will teach and advise the communities, through the establishment of the village commissions and by forming Forest Users' Associations. Information campaigns, advertisements and the distribution of written materials by TWA will help to increase awareness of the process involved in transferring and managing forest and pasture land.

Measuring the Results

As a direct result of the project, 2 500 hectares of state forests and pasture lands will be transferred to local communities. Village commissions will be established to lead the community and ensure long-term sustainability. Legal certificates will be signed between the Lozhan Commune and the individual households, or groups of households. User rights to forest and pasture lands will be registered with the district land tenure centre. The Forest Users' Association will be formally established and registered to ensure its legitimacy and role in supporting project beneficiaries to influence policies and to ensure consultation when any changes are proposed.

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WHO WILL BENEFIT?

Two hundred families, or some 850 people, will directly benefit. This  which will include not only the 16 villages of Lozhan Commune, but also the local authorities, the village elders, the local Forest Service and the local media.

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CONCLUSION

The project may serve as a model for use in other parts of the country and countries under transition from State-controlled, centralized governance, to devolution to the communities, who will become responsible for decisions on how land is divided and managed. The long-term effect will depend on the participation of the beneficiaries in the local institutions created, their continuous diligence in managing issues of private and communal ownership, and their responsibility for natural resource management. This is a matter of transforming relationships from an entrenched state-led, to community-based, model of responsibility.

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